A Ransomed Heart (15 page)

Annabelle was terrified and it showed on her face
, she was stiff against Logan and shocked at his change in attitude towards her.  Her eyes pleaded for Mousse to turn over the money.

“Please give him the money
,” she whispered.

Mr. Mousse
’s face was blank with shock and then both Annabelle and Logan saw the look of helplessness which crossed his face, he didn’t have the money. Suddenly his beady eyes went cold and black and he lifted his right hand. Gunfire erupted around them and Annabelle felt a searing pain shoot though her left thigh. At the same moment Logan propelled her away from the shots and behind a large bolder, he crashed hard onto her and she let out a cry of pain as the burning raced up her side and into her brain. Then everything went black for a moment. Seconds later she heard Mousse’s shrill voice over the sound of gun fire.

“Give us the girl or we will kill her family!”

Logan cautiously lifted his head over the stone and fired off a shot then returned with vocal fire as well. “If I don’t get my money I am going to send her and her family to Sevier in a box!”

Mr. Mousse
screamed obscenities at his men as they all dove for cover. They were not supposed to hurt the girl!  He could see the other men running for their horses as they dodged the incoming shots. One man clutched his arm but managed to mount his horse. Another was grazed but he, too, managed to escape. Mousse ignored Logan’s threat and wiggled up onto his own horse and headed out of the river bed with his entire group of men close by.  They were outnumbered and it would have been suicide to stay. Robert Sevier wasn’t going to be happy, especially if the girl died from her wound.

When they were sure they weren’t
being followed, he yelled heatedly at the men who glared at him in frustration. It had been his idea to shoot the other men, not Mr. Sevier’s. Sevier had been very clear he wanted no one hurt. Now they had lost the girl, and Mousse was to blame. It would be nightfall before they returned home, but they could all only imagine the lightning storm which was going to erupt when Robert Sevier saw they were empty-handed.

Before the echo of gun fire had
receded, Annabelle started crawling towards her horse. She disregarded the pain which burned in her leg, or the stiffness of her shoulder, instead all she could think about was getting away. No one had told her that her life would be threatened or that there was going to be trouble. That disturbed her, but what scared her most was what Mr. Mousse had said; she didn’t care what Logan intended to do with her, she was getting out of here.  Her horse along with the others had huddled together in a sheltered area a few hundred yards from her and when she was sure no stray bullets would ricochet off the walls and hit her, she struggled to her feet and hobbled onward.

All around her men were checking themselves for injuries.
Miraculously, there were no serious wounds, but in their preoccupation with themselves they hardly noticed her. She pushed onward even though it felt as if her leg was on fire. Clenching her teeth, she refused to slow down even as the pain drew tears from her eyes. She had to get home, or to Mr. Sevier’s, anywhere that would save her family. At that moment, nothing was more important than her original goal. When a strong arm grabbed her around the waist halting her progress, she whirled on the perpetrator and fought with all her strength for him to let go. When she sunk her teeth into Logan’s arm he released her and swore. She didn’t even care; she clawed her way towards the horses. A moment later Logan had her wrapped in his arms and she was unable to move.

The tears of pain changed to tears of anger and she did her best to
escape. Finally the stinging pain and hysterical fit drained her energy and she felt herself going limp. She covered her face and sobbed, pleading for him to let her go. Instead he pushed her face against his hard chest and cradled her, trying to calm her down. She had not heard, until that point, his voice trying to soothe her.

“Annabelle, Annabelle, you are safe. I have you now, you are safe.”

She halted her crying and waited for a moment, and then the memory of him holding a gun against her side scared her again. She trembled and her voice sounded weak with fear:

“You were going to shoot me.” It wasn’t a question, more like a statement of realization.

He let go of her body and grabbed both sides of her face.

“No, no honey, I would never hurt you, but I didn’t have any more cards
to play, I had to be sure he really didn’t have the money with him.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. “So you threatened
him with my life!”

He lowered his hands and looked her hard in the eyes. “I never had any intention of hurting you, you should know that.”

“Oh, I should? You have done nothing but confuse me as to your intentions.”

Logan was in shock
; what on earth was she talking about? “Me, you were the one who lied to me.”

“What
?” She stepped back out of his embrace.

“I asked you very candidly if you were in trouble and you told me
no. What is this about, your family?” He threw his arm around as if trying to bring back what Mousse had said. “If you weren’t in trouble, they would not have threatened your family.”

She glared at him. This had never been his problem, and up until he kidnapped her she had her family and her life completely under control. He was the one
who had messed everything up. Her face was wet from tears and red from anger.

“What Mr.
Sevier has to do with my family is none of your business.  Now you told me you would take me back, money or no money. I demand you return me now or I will go myself.”

He looked at her incredulously. “
Not until you tell me what is going on.”

She was so furious at him now she was shaking. The burning in her leg was so intense that she could hardly think straight. If he
wants to know, she would tell him, then he would see how pathetic she was and how keeping her here one more second was fruitless to him.  She would never stop trying to get home now; never.

“What do you want to know, that I am a payment
? A bride who is being purchased in exchange for a debt? Huh, does that make you feel better? Knowing every moment you keep me from Mr. Sevier you risk my family’s lives!” It hung in the air and she drew a deep breath. Then in a voice low and dangerous, she spoke again:

“I will no longer keep them at risk. You will have to kill me to keep me from saving them.” With that she
turned and hobbled toward the horses.

Logan stood there stunned into silence. She was a payment? What did that mean, did she not love Mr.
Sevier, was her family really in danger, was she really leaving?  There were no answers just confusion.

“Bella, wait!” The
intimate nature of his call was not lost on either of them, but there was no time to dwell on it now.

She stopped but refused to face him.

“Do you even know Mr. Sevier?”

It wasn’t
condescending but she heard it that way. “No, I don’t, but why does it matter to you?” For a moment the ground beneath her moved but she managed to stay on her feet.

Logan felt a strange
sense of relief. She was so naive it made him want to wrap her up and hold her. This strange silly girl was running off to marry a horrible man for her family; it was almost a laughing matter to him. Why, oh why, would she do that? Slowly he walked towards her.

“Bella
, honey, let’s talk about this.”

She looked
up at him and again the world spun, this time faster than she had expected. Within seconds Logan had her in his arms. She clutched her leg and moaned as nausea washed over her. What was happening?

“Bella, are you hurt?”  His voice was deep with concern.

Raising her hand to her face she could see the distorted red spot of blood wet on her palm. Logan saw it, too, and his face went hard as steel. He called for Kit as he gently laid her on the ground. “Bella what happened?”

“I…I think I got shot.”
Everything around her was swimming wildly and she felt as if she might vomit. The pain was so intense now, it even hurt to breath. Confused she looked into Logan’s eyes. “It hurts, Logan...please…” It didn’t matter how she fought it, the world was getting dark. Logan’s blue eyes remained on hers as long as she could remember, and then everything was gone.

Robert Sevier threw his glass across the room smashing it against the wall. Then he leaned on his desk spreading his palms flat against the wood. His eyes were bright with fire and the muscles in his jaw worked back and forth. When he spoke his voice was like ice. “So where is she?”

“They still have her
.”

“Why didn’t you get her back?”

“I told you, Boss, they started shooting.”

Jean Mousse was wringing the brim of his bowler
hat in his hands. What was he supposed to tell him, that he had blown it, or had he? “The guy had his gun stuck in her side; it wasn’t like I could grab her away from him. He would have killed her.”

“You honestly
believe that?” It sounded as if Sevier didn’t quite believe it himself.

“Yes sir, she was terrified, I don’t
think she could have planned it. She honestly believed she was going to die.”

Mr.
Sevier looked down at the design in the wooden desktop.  This was not going as planned and it irritated him.

“And you say you didn’t see any faces?”

“No sir, they had bandanas on again. There were maybe ten of them and we were outnumbered; when they started shootin’ we got out of there.”

Sevier
nodded his head; he had heard it all the first time. The girl was out of reach, again!

Mousse
hesitated and thought hard about his next statement. Finally he spoke, his voice mousy and high, “I think he has help, boss.”

Sevier
leveled his eyes with Mousse’s and stared hard, looking for the truth. “Why do you say that?”

“Well
, boss, she had on men’s clothes, and it seemed almost immediately he knew what he was doing, what was going on…I, I think he knows.”

Sevier
’s blue eyes widened a bit. “Why?”

“
Well, I think he knows more about us than we think he does.”

Robert
Sevier pushed away from the desk and looked pensively at the man. “What do we know about him?”

“Nothing really, he comes
up from Sage Creek and we are pretty sure he is the same guy who has robbed the business coaches. Again I think he is watching us, or even has a spy here because he knows all about us.”

Sevier
grimaced. “And we know nothing about him.” It was time to take action. The money needed to be moved and then they needed to be lured out of their hiding spot.

Mr. Mousse nodded his head in agreement. “What about the spy?”

“Let’s leave it be for now. Take Marshall and George, I know we can trust them, and a wagon up to the caves. Go out of your way not be detected. We will think of a way to get the girl back, and then she will be mine.” He smiled wickedly.

Mousse looked d
own at his hands and drew a suspicious breath.

“What
?”

“Well
, it’s about the girl.”

A frown creased Mr.
Sevier’s brow.

“I think she was hit.”

“Hit with what?” he snapped.

“A bullet.”

Robert moved around his desk and stuck his nose in Mousse’s face. “You better hope she is okay, or I am going to take it out of your hide!” It was a truthful threat and he would stick to it. With that he opened the door and waited for Mousse to leave. He slammed it hard and closed his eyes, propping himself up on the wood. This guy was smart, whoever he was, but his time in the sun was coming to a close. Sevier would get him and publicly humiliate him, then kill him. No one got in the way of Robert Sevier, no one!

Retrieving
a fresh cup from the liquor table, he poured himself a heavy gin and tonic. Annabelle Casey better be in good shape, he wasn’t paying for used goods. He pictured her red hair and fair face; whatever she was, she was worth the hassle.  With a woman like her on his arm he would be the envy of the territory and that would complete his image of himself: rich and powerful with a beautiful wife, what more could a man ask for? He took a long drink from his cup and sat down in his stuffed chair, propping his feet up on the desk. The plan may have taken a slight detour, but all in all he was invincible.

Logan refused to leave her side; he held her hand and brushed his lips across the brow of her head. It was searing hot and clammy.  Fear fingered his heart.  They had ridden home as quickly as possible, but when she cried out in pain he would slow his horse to a snail’s pace.  It infuriated him, but he didn’t want to hurt her anymore. Finally he had sent Kit on ahead to warn Mama and tell her what was coming in her direction.  Annabelle had opened her eyes one or two times during the ride and he did his best to calm her, but she babbled about her family and Mr. Sevier.  Logan reassured her everything was going to be fine.  He would take care of it, he assured her.